Only5mins! – Solar sector set to slim down on silver
pv magazine speaks with Matthew Watson, president of Precious Metals Commodity Management LLC, about silver demand and availability. He says the solar industry has managed to reduce silver consumption, but it may have to do more in the future.
Demonstrator machine for high-throughput solar cell metallization
Developed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and ASYS Automatisierungssysteme GmbH, the new machine is claimed to increase the print process throughput by a factor of 1.5.
Simulating PV’s silver future
Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE developed a model to simulate different setups for screen printing in solar cell metallization. The model provides a comparable ‘screen utility index’ value that can predict the usefulness of different architectures in the printing equipment in relation to the properties of a given silver paste. The approach, says Fraunhofer, will assist the PV industry in reducing the amounts of silver needed in silicon cell manufacturing.
Fraunhofer ISE solar cell manufacturing spin-off could reduce silver content
Highline Technology GmbH has a production process in which metal contacts are applied without touching the front of solar cells, reportedly saving resources and raising efficiency.
